The 7 Paths:

After the formation of the Alliance the member worlds enacted a mandatory membership into one of seven religious beliefs. Citizens who refuse to belong or do not demonstrate valid reasons for their lack of participation in one of the religious “Paths,” are arrested and placed into labor camps on outlying worlds. The seven Paths were substantially derived from the preexisting member worlds’ most dominant and philanthropic beliefs. Each was assigned it’s own “home world,” training centers and Alliance sponsorship. Because of the diverse nature of these Paths, citizens were encouraged to express their diversity and freedom within the expression of their beliefs. Individual liberty and direct so-called freedom of speech was outlawed.

Taragian faith centers around enjoying life. You truly involved believer strives to live a life of pleasure. Taragian deities describe the various Holy and unholy states a believer finds himself, And each of them have prayers and patron saints for the individual to pray themselves out of. True evil, in this sect, is found in overwork, sadness, and of course death. A reasonably new religion, compared to others in the Alliance, Kendeekat, or what it was called before LAP, actually inhibited the people of Taraga 2 from focusing on science and therefore being one of the latest humanoid cultures to develop space travel. Nevertheless, their attractive culture of fun, carousing, dance and song have attracted many two its beliefs and hollowed halls. In fact, many races have assisted them in reaching space and even assisting them with hyper-dim technology. Masters of this belief develop special mental discipline which allows them to add a kind of mind control to certain words. This creates a sense of susceptibility in the listener and has them want and even desire to do what the Taragian speaker is emphasizing. It is called, “Chandrilla.” It has given the Taragian politician a powerful competitive advantage.

The road to spaceflight and interstellar travel was a difficult one for the Taragian people. One critical moment in that history came when after several failed and lethal attempts at interstellar travel, three astronauts climbed aboard three different extra-system craft in a last ditch effort to find other ores and life out of the Taragian system. The hope was that they would also find technology to help them in their space faring desires. For several decades these brave Taragians flew toward their intended worlds. Within the span of three years of each other, they all arrived, but they were disappointed to discover that each of the worlds was barren, dead and without chance of life or valuables. One man, with his remaining rations decided to travel to the next world away in the system he was in. Although it turned out to be a habitable planet, there was no intelligent or animal life there. Crashing on this world which was later to be known as Jo-Ban 3, he lived off of its vegetation for four months until a Deridian transport was drawn to his distress beacon. Rescued, the Deridians were more than happy to employ their hyper-dim capable ship to rescue the other two men who were still alive and in orbit of their respective planets. Upon returning to Taraga 2, the three men were heralded as heroes, as were the Deridians who, strangely and suddenly, decided to become members of the Taragian faith and turn over all of their technology for examination. Within three years, Taragians were manipulation other races around the galaxy. Without Deridian assistance and the bravery of those three men, the Taragian people might never have reached the stars.

Until this gift was discovered, many an alliance leader and policy was happily voted in or made into law– only to have Alliance members later look at their actions aghast and wonder why they did what they did. The capability requires an extreme amount of training, but it can work with any suggested word or phrase. It is a strictly aural phenomenon and works in conjunction with the speaker’s neurological energy and their voice. Much like the Chinese monks of Sol 3 who can sing more than one pitch at a time, this phenomenon then engages the dopamine and oxytocin chemicals of the listener’s brain and compels them to act– completely bypassing their frontal lobes. Alliance military has strict rules against the use of this capability, but since Chandrilla is predominantly found in Masters level IV and higher, there are only 4 Taragians in the Alliance military who can even perform this act. The HAVI System aboard every Alliance vessel immediately sends warning klaxons if internal sensors discover the unique tones of Chandrilla. The use of Chandrilla aboard a military vessel is a serious offense.

Taragians consider their homeworld to be Taraga 2, but their pleasure world of Jo-Ban 3 is so populated and so often visited by the average Taragian, that both worlds truly are homeworlds for the sect.
Taragians, due to their ability to “negotiate” have appropriated all the best technology and science from around the quadrant and the galaxy. They are formidable foes, and are not to be trifled with. Although they are not considered the fiercest of fighters, they are the most tenacious. They are not the physical superlative of Alliance members due to their lack of combat training, but they more than make up for it in strategy and tactical advantage. In general, difficulties with a Taragian can be handled with wine, women, and song.